Letter-box



J. G. SMITH.

(No Model.)

LETTER BOX.

N 420,114. Patented Jan. 28, 1890.

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6 613 fizm UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES Gr. SMITH, OF JAMESTOWN, NETV YORK.

LETTER-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 420,114, dated January 28, 1890.

Application filed October 21I 1889- Serial No. 327,707- (Ifl'o model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JAMES G. SMITH, a citizen 0f the United States, residing at Jamestown, in the county of Chautauqua, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Letter Boxes, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to boxes for the reception of letters, cards, or other communications to facilitate the business of persons using them; and the objects of my invention are to provide a box of simple and inexpensive construction, but not easily broken, and provided with a lock to be attached to conveyances, as buggies and carriages, that are often hired with a team by comparative strangers from livery-men and other horse-owners, to bring back in said box to the owner of the team reports hastily written on a card or other paper of the treatment given to the team or its location at a certain hour, said reports being made by members of livery-men associations or of societies for the protection of horse-owners, or of societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals in localities where the team may have stopped. It is intended to attain these objects by the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a letterbox constructed in accordance with my invention, said box being shown partly open. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the same. Fig. 3 is a transverse section of the same.

The box is intended to be attached to the vehicle in some unconspicuous location thereof, preferably under the seat, in which case it occupies a position as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, in which the cover A is uppermost, and the box 13 thereunder is hinged thereto at one end.

The box and its cover are preferably made of galvanized sheet-iron, and to simplify the construction of the device the edge of the metal. at one end of the box is looped at b to form one member of the hinge, and through said loop is passed a stout wire or small rod CLftO form the other member of the hinge, the ends of said rod being soldered, as shown at (L to the under side of the cover A.

To the end of the box opposite to the hinge is attached a lock 13*, having a hooked hasp b which is pressed sidewise by a spring within the lock, and thus forced into engagement with the edge of the opening a in the cover when the box is brought in contact with said cover, the edge of said opening acting as keeper for the lock. Said lock has also a fiat lug b projecting therefrom, that also enters the opening a and prevents lateral play or unhooking of the hasp, except under the action of the key 0, (which is kept by the owner normally out of the lock.)

The cover has two holes cl for the passage of screw cl 'to secure the device to aboard D, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2, that may be the bottom of the seat of a carriage, or to the side or back board D Fig. 3, of a carriage, in which case the whole device is turned on its edge.

To permit the insertion of letters, cards,

850., one of the long sides of the box is not as high as the others, so as to leave between its edge and the under side of the cover a long slit opening 6, extending the length thereof, and to form a close joint between the opposite long side of the box with the cover the latter has portions of its corre- 8o sponding edge bent at A at right angles to its body to inclose the side of the box at that point and prevent the escape of letters or cards, particularly when the device occupies the position shown in Fig. 3, with its slitopening 6 on top.

Having now fully described my invention,

I claim-- 1. A letter-receptacle consisting of a box having one of its sides narrower than the 0 other to form a slit opening between it and its cover, a lock attached to said box, a cover hinged to said box and extending the whole length thereof, and having an opening a therein for engagement with the hasp of the lock, substantially as described.

2. The combination of a box having one of its sides of less height than the others, a

lock attached Within said box, a cover hinged In testimony whereof I afiix mysignature in to said box and extending the whole length presence of two Witnesses. thereof, and having an opening a for en- 1 gagement with the hasp of the lock, and a JAMES SMITH 5 portion of one of its edges bent, as at A to \Vitnesses:

fit against the side of the box, substantially ROBERT G. SHAW, as and for the purpose described. WM. NORTHROP, J 1'. 

